88 pages • 2 hours read
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
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Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
Even as a child, Maya is very perceptive and pays much attention to the people around her. For instance, she notices that their neighbor, Mr. McElroy, is one of the few local Black people who wear a suit. Although he is rather reserved and rarely smiles, Maya grows fond of him because he, unlike other people of Stamps, likes to talk to Uncle Willie. Mr. McElroy doesn’t go to church, and Maya considers him very courageous for being able “to stare religion down, especially living next door to a woman like Momma” (21). Since Mr. McElroy owns his land and his house, he is “an independent Black man” (21), and this makes him stand out in the community of Stamps.
Maya admits that the most important person in her world is her brother Bailey. Physically, he is the opposite of her, "small, graceful, and smooth" (22), and in Maya's eyes, he is nearly perfect. He always defends his sister when people speak unkindly about her, and thanks to his mischievous character, the siblings spend many days playing daring and fun games. Maya acknowledges that Bailey is her "Kingdom Come" (23), and she adores her brother.
The Black community in Stamps is tightly-knit, and during the canning season, women gather to help each other fill the jars with various produce and prepare it for the rest of the year. Since Black people don't own refrigerators, they can preserve their food only by canning and smoking, but twice a year, Momma gives Maya and Bailey money to buy fresh meat in the white part of the town Maya calls "whitefolksville" (22). As they cross the Black area of Stamps, they stop to make small talk with every person they meet, as is customary. However, as they venture out into the white part of the town, they feel like "explorers walking without weapon into man-eating territory" (25).
Because Stamps is so segregated, Maya and Bailey, as Black children, "didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like" (25). As a result, the siblings regard them with hostility and dread and can't identify with the life they see in the white part of the town.
Chapter 5 Summary
While living with Momma and Uncle Willie, Maya and Bailey have to adhere to a strict set of rules. One of them is that children are to wash themselves thoroughly every day because in Momma's eyes, "not only was cleanliness next to Godliness, dirtiness was the inventor of misery" (28). The other rule is that children are not to be impertinent and disrespectful and have to address everyone as "Mister, Missus, Miss, Auntie, Cousin, Unk, Uncle, Buhbah, Sister, Brother" (28).
White children, to whom Maya refers to as "powhitetrash" (28) and who live on Momma's land behind the Store, stand as a contrast to this disciplined upbringing; they often behave with impudence. On many occasions, Maya had to watch with rage and frustration as these children address her grandmother and uncle by their first names and boss them around the Store.
One summer morning, while Maya and Momma are admiring the half-moon designs Maya has raked in the dirt yard, a group of white girls approaches the Store. Anticipating the trouble they are going to cause, Momma sends Maya inside, and she watches in tears as these children mock her grandmother. One of them does a handstand, revealing that she is not wearing underpants, but Momma doesn't react to her provocation, and during the whole interaction hums a Christian hymn under her breath. When the children finally are about to leave, they call Momma by her first name, while her grandmother addresses them as "Miz Helen, Miz Ruth, Miz Eloise" (32).
Maya doesn't understand how Momma can withstand such humiliation and not reprimand the girls, and she's in tears when her grandmother comes back into the Store. However, she realizes that it is Momma who emerges victorious in this situation by maintaining her dignity. Maya goes outside and makes new designs in the dirt yard; this time, she draws multiple hearts, pierced by an arrow, and Momma praises her for her skill.
Chapter 6 Summary
Every three months, Reverend Howard Thomas, who serves as the presiding district elder, visits Stamps. On these occasions, he stays at Momma's on Saturday night and on Sunday preaches a sermon at a local church. Both Maya and Bailey hate him, primarily because he never bothers to remember their names, but also because he is obese and "ugly" (34). At the dinner table, Reverend Thomas always takes the best, juiciest pieces of chicken which gives the children another reason to dislike him. Moreover, on Sunday morning, when Momma asks him to bless the table, he prays for so long that the food becomes cold and unappetizing. During the Reverend's visits, Maya and Bailey like to eavesdrop on his conversations with Momma, but despite their antipathy towards the man, they still treat him with respect.
One Sunday, while entering the church, Maya sees Sister Monroe, who is known for making up for her absences by shouting very hard during services. The girl recalls how once during the sermon, Sister Monroe "got the spirit" (39) and started shouting at Reverend Taylor, "Preach it. I say, preach it" (39). She then moved to the altar and started shaking Reverend Taylor while everyone else in the church "hung loose like stockings on a washline" (40). By the end of the service, Reverend Taylor was on the floor, barely able to finish his sermon. For weeks afterward, every time Maya and Bailey remembered the episode, they burst into laughter.
Reverend Thomas has heard about Sister Monroe but doesn't know her by sight. When he begins his sermon, she approaches the altar and starts shouting, "Preach it." She then hits him on the back of his head with her purse so hard that his false teeth fly out and land at Maya's feet. Reverend Thomas picks them up and continues his sermon, saying only, "Naked I came into the world, naked shall I go" (44).
During this whole episode, Maya and Bailey try to contain their laughter, but finally, Bailey gives in and snorts, and seeing this, Maya also dissolves into laughter. They both fall on the floor, "kicking and screaming" (44), ignoring Momma's disapproving gaze. Each time the siblings look at each other, they erupt into laughter all over again, unable to stop. Momma and Uncle Willie are so upset with Maya and Bailey for misbehaving that when they get home, the children receive "the whipping of [their] lives" (44).
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
Maya delineates the social fabric of Stamps, a segregated town with its deep-seated racial hostility. Although the Black part of Stamps seems homogenous, Maya notices the subtle differences between people. For instance, her attention attracts Mr. McElroy, who has the courage to choose his own lifestyle, and does not attend church as everyone else does. Maya assumes that his independence stems from his financial situation; although he’s not wealthy, he owns his land and his house, which is unusual at the time. Even as a child, Maya senses that Mr. McElroy has an air of dignity and power, which suggests that she is an acute observer of the social scene.
However, when Maya is surrounded by white people, her perceptiveness transforms into antagonism. Maya and Bailey's outing to the white part of Stamps reveals how little they know about "these others, the strange pale creatures that lived in their alien unlife" (26). The language Angelou uses to describe what she sees creates an impression that the people in the "whitefolksville" (26) are fictitious. Because of minimal exposure to people outside the Black community, Maya looks at white people with disbelief, and their behavior and appearance are entirely foreign to her. Yet instead of arousing curiosity, they only incur enmity, "the hostility of the powerless against the powerful, the poor against the rich, the worker against the worked for and the ragged against the well dressed" (25). This suggests that while Maya's perception of the people within her Black community is nuanced, her attitude towards the white population of Stamps is uniformly antagonistic.
Maya's grandmother, on the contrary, doesn't reveal any bitterness towards the white residents of the town and keeps her true feelings about them to herself. Even when the white girls who live on her property come to the Store and try to infuriate her, she neither reprimands nor scolds them. By ignoring the girls' insults and refusing to give in to their provocation, Momma demonstrates that they have no power over her. She is self-confident enough to project stoicism even when faced with derision. Momma endures the mockery without giving in to a temptation to react and thus doesn't give her abusers the satisfaction of seeing that their words and actions can upset her. As a result, she not only becomes the winner in this confrontation but also sets a powerful example for Maya, who later will often strive to emulate her grandmother's perseverance and self-confidence.
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